Chandigarh: A day after his son Inder Iqbal Atwal, a former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) legislator, filed papers as BJP candidate for May 10 Jalandhar Lok Sabha (reserved) seat by-election, veteran Akali leader Charanjit Singh Atwal also quit SAD "moral grounds’’ on Wednesday.
The said by-poll was necessitated after Congress sitting MP Santokh Chaudhry, died of heart attack during Congress leader Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra in Jalandhar on January 14.
Inder Iqbal Atwal
The former SAD MLA, Inder Iqbal Atwal, had won Koom Kalan seat in 2002, though had lost two polls in 2007 and 2017. He had joined BJP on April 9 and was named as BJP candidate.
He filed his nomination papers on Tuesday and was accompanied by BJP state chief Ashwani Sharma, Hoshiarpur MP Som Prakash, Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) leader Parminder Singh Dhindsa, Jai Inder Kaur, daughter of former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, besides several other senior party leaders.
Charanjit Singh Atwal
A veteran Akali leader Charanjit Singh Atwal, 86, a former speaker of the state assembly who announced his resignation from SAD Wednesday on "moral grounds’’ was considered to be close to SAD supermo Parkash Singh Badal; He was deputy speaker of the Lok Sabha from 2004-2009 and speaker of the state vidhan sabha twice. He had also unsuccessfully fought Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat against Congress MP Chaudhary in 2019.
Meanwhile, it may be recalled that the Congress was first to announce its candidate – Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary, wife of MP late Santokh Chaudhary, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had fielded Congress’ former MLA Sushil Kumar Rinku and the SAD-BSP combine had fielded a sitting MLA from Banga seat Dr Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi.
The last date for nominations for the May 10 by-poll is April 20, scrutiny of papers, April 21, and the withdrawal of candidature, April 24. The votes would be counted on May 13, according to the pollschedule.
